In July, my 16-year-old dog and best four-footed friend Nina passed away. I didn't have anything profound to say about her passing in the moment, nor did I want to just pile on more bad news in a summer that had been full of it, so I kept the mourning to myself and a very small circle of loved ones and refrained from mentioning it online.
Instead, and as a means of both coping and turning something sad into something I could celebrate and share with others, I sat down and wrote a short story about what made this rather ordinary dog so special to those who loved her. Not-quite 30 illustrations later, that story became a 34-page book.
It isn't Nobel-worthy literature — few books produced inside of a month tend to be — but it conveys much of what made Nina such a big deal. And it has some very colorful hand-drawn pictures in it. And it's way more funny and silly than sad (I promise — that was the goal after all). And perhaps, if you're someone who loves dogs, you'll relate to some of the stories told inside and come away with a renewed appreciation of your own dogs' unique mannerisms and oddities.
Thank you for reading. If you read Nina's story, please get in touch (and feel welcome to tell your own dogs' stories when you do).
— Billy
More info: dog.billyok.com
